Wednesday, July 18, 2007

BlogCatalog.com, an online community that I recently joined, has been encouraged to make today the day for their "BlogCatalog Community Organ Donor Awareness Campaign."

The subject is a bit off-topic, but organ donation is an important issue. Think of this as a PSA (Public Service Announcement).

Organ transplants can save lives. The medical procedures for swapping out damaged organs for ones that work have been around for years.

One of the problems has been that there aren't enough organs available to meet the demand. And this has led to abuses that remind me of Larry Niven's "organlegger" stories. The problem is, this is real. There have been articles about this problem in Fox News and Slate Magazine. (The Slate article is much more dramatic.)

Black market or not, people's lives can be saved through organ donation. On the other hand, people's lives can be ended if critical organs are extracted.

As a Catholic, I needed to see what the rules are. In the current Catechism, paragraph 2296 says:

Organ transplants are not morally acceptable if the donor or those who legitimately speak for him have not given their informed consent.

Organ transplants conform with the moral law and can be meritorious if the physical an psychological dangers and risks incurred by the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient.

It is morally inadmissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

(From Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, English translation. Bullets added for clarity.)

So far, so good: as long as I know what I'm doing, and don't kill myself in the process, it's okay for me to donate organs.

Not that I'm terribly keen at the prospect.

However, I've made arrangements for me to be broken down for parts when I die. Assuming that anyone wants them, of course.

So: think about it. As for me, I think and believe that organ donation is a good idea.

The following is an excerpt from a blog post at blogcatalog.com. I have not checked any of the links, and am presenting them "as is," with no idea as to how reliable any of them are

Organ donation is a gift of life. On July 18, let's all come together again and raise awareness about organ donation and the good it can do. If everyone blogs about organ donation, no matter what country you live in, we can save lives! It's easy and we can also prove that bloggers can do good at the same time!

If your country has an online organ donation site, please add it to this bulletin so BlogCatalog members in your country can promote it too or visit the British Organ Donor Society for known worldwide links http://body.orpheusweb.co.uk/lnks.html

Blatant Plugs

About Me

I'm a sixty-something married guy with six kids, four surviving, in a small central Minnesota town.

One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run a factory; another is a cartoonist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters, and has a day job.